Chosen to represent her native Australia in the prestigious BBC CARDIFF SINGER OF THE WORLD competition (2009), mezzo-soprano Katharine Tier has established herself as a prodigiously gifted young singer with important experiences on the operatic, concert and recital stages. Ms Tier has sung with San Francisco Opera,Opera North (USA), Opera Australia, State Opera of South Australia, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Sydney Symphony, Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the American Philharmonic, the UC Davis Symphony, Napa Valley Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Western Australia Symphony, the Empyrean Ensemble, Macquarie Singers, and Earplay, and she looks forward to company debuts with Virginia Opera (USA), Opera Australia, the Saito Kinen Festival of Japan and Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.

A former member of the distinguished Adler Fellowship program of the San Francisco Opera, Ms. Tier made her mainstage opera debut with the company as the Third Lady in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. She performed Suzy in La Rondine and Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly for the company, and she was seen as Brigitta in Die Tote Stadt in performances which were met with great acclaim. Ms. Tier added significant roles to her repertoire during her tenure in the Alder Fellowship program comprising Flosshilde (Das Rheingold) Polinesso (Ariodante), Idamante (Idomeneo), Dalila (Samson et Dalila), and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier. MOST RECENT AND UPCOMING NEW ROLES for Ms. Tier include Carmen (Carmen) for Opera North, Charlotte cover (Werther) for Opera Australia, Mary (The Flying Dutchman) for State Opera of South Australia, Dorabella (Così fan tutte) for Virginia Opera, Annina, Erda, Third Lady and a reprise of Flosshilde for Deutsche Oper Berlin, Herodias's Page in Salome for the Saito Kinen Festival under the direction of Seiji Ozawa and various role assignments for Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.

Recognized for her significant vocal gifts and exceptional musical instincts, the young mezzo-soprano was invited to join the Merola Opera Program in 2006 where she sang Lenore in excerpts from Donizetti's La Favorite at Yerba Buena Gardens and covered Fidalma in Il Matrimonia di Segreto. Other roles for Ms. Tier comprise Tancredi in Rossini's Opera of the same name for Teatro dell' Opera di Roma, Amaranta in Haydn's La Fedeltà Premiata performed while a student at the Sydney Conservatory and Nicklausse, The Muse, and The Voice of Antonia's Mother in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffman with the University of Sydney.

An avid concert performer and recitalist, Ms. Tier has performed the Shostakovich song-cycle From Jewish Poetry, Op. 79; Beethoven's Symphony No. 9; the Duruflé Requiem, Op. 9; Bach's St. Matthew Passion; Handel's Israel in Egypt; Mozart's Requiem in D minor; George Crumb's song cycle, Night of the Four Moons, written to the text of the pre-eminent Spanish poet and dramatist Frederico Garcia Lorca; James H. Carr's song-cycle for Mezzo-Soprano and Clarinet, Four Wilde Aphorisms; and concert performances of Puccini's La Rondine and Ravel's L'enfant et les Sortilèges. Ms. Tier has given recitals for the National Lieder Society and the Joan Sutherland Society, and can be heard in a recording of the acclaimed contemporary oratorio, Hallel for Our Times, by American composer Shelley Olson.

Ms. Tier was designated Australian Finalist in Neue Stimmen International Singing Competition and she received the Mezzo-Soprano Award at the Sydney Opera Awards . Other scholarships and awards include the distinguished Marianne Mathy Scholarship, the Barilla Opera Scholarship Award, and the Joan Sutherland Society Scholarship. Ms. Tier holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Sydney and completed the Diploma of Opera course at the Sydney Conservatory.

"Katharine Tier sings with power and authority..." "Tier added a theatrical touch to Gordon's I'm Open All Night…" "Tier sang beautifully… with an understanding of [the song's] subtle catharsis…"